Lee Chin captain of Wexford shakes hands with Antrim manager Davy Fitzgerald after the Leinster GAA Hurling Senior Championship Round 1 match between Wexford and Antrim at Chadwicks Wexford Park in Wexford. Photo by Matt Browne/Sportsfile.
Leinster Senior Hurling Championship Round 1
WEXFORD 2-24 ANTRIM 0-19
By Ronan Fagan at Chadwicks Wexford Park
Revenge for 2024 was the bottom-line for Wexford as Kevin Foley and Cian Byrne struck for second-half goals in Saturday’s Leinster Senior hurling championship round-robin opener at wintry Chadwicks Wexford Park.
Antrim threatened early on, even flashing over a second-minute penalty, before the fine finishing of Lee Chin slowly but surely helped Wexford nudge into a 0-14 to 0-10 half-time lead before pulling clear in the closing period.
And that was despite losing Jack O’Connor to a red card after 20 minutes, although Antrim also finished a man down following defender Conor Boyd’s second yellow-card in the closing stages.
Wexford won’t be overly pleased with the overall performance, with considerable room for improvement away to Dublin next weekend, while Antrim have two home games upcoming – Kilkenny followed by the Dubs.
Antrim attacked the game with relish from the start, and they provided a real scare for the home-side when Seann Elliott drew a first-minute penalty.
But Gerard Walsh couldn’t maximise the opportunity as his strike flew over the crossbar much to the relief of the Wexford support.
Antrim continued to build momentum as they outstripped their slow-starting hosts by 0-6 to 0-2 inside the first nine minutes, as a second from midfielder Walsh was added to by Keelan Molloy, James McNaughton (free) and the Elliotts, Nigel and Seann.
Wexford captain Lee Chin then began to lift the purple and gold, hammering over three frees – one from inside his own half – to level on 0-6 apiece, before a quick-fire double from Rory O’Connor had the hosts on the front-foot after nineteen minutes.
But Wexford endured a massive blow shortly afterwards when Jack O’Connor earned a straight red card for an incident that floored Joe Maskey as a pointing effort from Charlie McGuckin flew wide.
Wexford coped more than satisfactorily, claiming six of the last ten points of the half – two through midfielder Conor Hearne and a bunch more courtesy of Chin – to force themselves ahead by 0-14 to 0-10 at the change-of-ends.
Antrim had it shaved back to 0-15 to 0-13 five minutes into the second-half as McNaughton (two) and Walsh (free) offered hope.
But Wexford eased 0-19 to 0-13 ahead after 47 minutes courtesy of Rory O’Connor, Chin (three frees) and Cathal Dunbar.
Momentarily the visitors looked set to make good use of their numerical superiority as a chain of short passes saw centre-forward Keelan Molloy got on the end of a flowing move only for his goaling effort to be deflected over by ‘keeper Mark Fanning on 48 minutes (0-19 to 0-14).
Whatever disappointment was sitting in Antrim souls amongst the 4,774 crowd was multiplied on 54 minutes when Kevin Foley grabbed his third-ever championship goal after fielding a puck-out to stitch a 1-20 to 0-16 lead. Antrim suffered a further blow for Antrim with defender Conor Boyd’s dismissal on a second yellow for a challenge on Foley.
Wexford really cut clear when defender Cian Molloy marked his championship debut with a purposeful surge through the centre before offloading for Cian Byrne to net a 2-21 to 0-16 advantage on 60 minutes – only seconds before Byrne was substituted.
Davy Fitzgerald got in the crosshairs of referee Colm Lyons with a yellow-card for his protestations while Wexford surged to revenge for twelve months ago, but with some improvement needed against Dublin next weekend.
Wexford scorers: Lee Chin 0-16 (12 frees), Conor Hearne, Rory O’Connor 0-3 each, Kevin Foley, Cian Byrne 1-0 each, Cathal Dunbar, Seamus Casey 0-1 each
Antrim scorers: James McNaughton 0-8 (6 frees), Gerard Walsh 0-4 (1 penalty, 2 frees), Keelan Molloy 0-3, Nigel Elliott, Seann Elliott, Joe McLaughlin, Eoin O’Neill 0-1 each
Wexford: Mark Fanning; Eoin Ryan, Conor Foley, Cian Molloy; Richie Lawlor, Damien Reck, Charlie McGuckin; Conor Hearne, Simon Donohoe; Jack O’Connor, Rory O’Connor, Cathal Dunbar; Cian Byrne, Lee Chin, Kevin Foley. Subs: Seamus Casey for Byrne (60), Jack Redmond for O’Connor (66), Darragh Carley for Dunbar (66), Niall Murphy for Lawlor (70), Darren Codd for K. Foley (70+2).
Antrim: Ryan Elliott; Paddy Burke, Niall O’Connor, Stephen Rooney; Conor Boyd, Joe Maskey, Conal Bohill; Eoghan Campbell, Gerard Walsh; Scott Walsh, Nigel Elliott, Keelan Molloy; Paul Boyle, Seann Elliott, James McNaughton. Subs: Eoin O’Neill for N. Elliott, temp. (32-35), Cormac McKeown for Boyle (HT), Seán McKay for Campbell (54), Joseph McLaughlin for S. Elliott (56), O’Neill for McNaughton, temp. (64-66), Eoin O’Neill for N. Elliott (68), Ryan McGarry for Rooney (70+3).
Referee: Colm Lyons (Cork).
